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CPSC 538M: Systems Security
[**Overview**](#overview) **//** [**Registration and Prerequisites**](#registration-and-prerequisites) **//** [**Evaluation**](#course-structure-and-grading) **//** [**Class schedule**](#reading-list)
This is a research-oriented graduate course covering topics on security and privacy techniques for software systems in the web, cloud, mobile, and edge.
Learning objectives:
Instructor: Aastha Mehta ( [firstname]k[lastinitial] [AT] cs.ubc.ca )
Office hours: Mon, 12:00 - 13:00h PT, or by appointment
Class hours: Mon/Wed 10:30 – 12:00 hours PT, ORCH 4052
Web tools: Piazza
Registration: Note, the last date to add/drop out of the course is 16 Sep 2024.
Prerequisites: Undergraduate knowledge of operating systems, architecture, networking, databases, and software engineering is essential. Any background in security is welcome but not required. The course is intended for Masters and Ph.D. students in Computer Science, but enterprising Bachelors students are welcome to participate.
Pre-requisites for bachelors students: CPSC 313, CPSC 317, and one of CPSC 435A or CPSC 436S.
The primary goal of this course is to prepare you to do research. Therefore, the evaluation for this course consists of only two components (tentative, subject to change until the beginning of the course):
Project (65%): The course project must be done in teams of 2-4. The goal of the project is to conduct original research in computer security. You are encouraged to come up with your own ideas, but you can talk to the instructor for some ideas that are well-scoped for a course project.
The project deliverables will include a research proposal, a proposal presentation, a final presentation, and a final report. For more details, please check the project page.
Here is a tentative schedule of papers to be covered in the class.
Date |
Topic | Preparation material | Additional resources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 02 | *Labour Day* | ||
| Sep 04 | Introduction, security overview, threat models | ||
| Sep 09 | Access control | [Qapla](https://aasthakm.github.io/files/sec17-qapla.pdf) | [IVD](https://research.facebook.com/file/2955782641347996/63-ivd-camera-ready-sp17.pdf) [Zanzibar](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/atc19-pang.pdf) |
| Sep 11 | Noninterference principle | [Decentralized Label Model](https://www.cs.cornell.edu/andru/papers/iflow-tosem.pdf) | [DC Labels](http://www.cse.chalmers.se/~russo/publications_files/nordsec2011.pdf) |
| Sep 16 | IFC in applications | [RESIN](https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/papers/resin:sosp09/resin:sosp09.pdf) | [Hails](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/osdi12/osdi12-final-35.pdf), |
| Sep 18 | IFC in big data systems | [Grok/Legalese](https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/danupam/sen-guha-datta-oakland14.pdf) | |
| Sep 23 | Software vulnerabilities | [Eternal War in Memory](https://nebelwelt.net/files/13Oakland.pdf) | |
| Sep 25 | Control flow safety | [CFI principles](https://users.soe.ucsc.edu/~abadi/Papers/cfi-tissec-revised.pdf) | [CFI Bending](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/usenixsecurity15/sec15-paper-carlini.pdf) |
| Sep 30 | *Regional holiday -- National Day for Truth and Reconciliation* | ||
| Oct 02 | Software fault isolation | [XFI](https://www.usenix.org/legacy/event/osdi06/tech/full_papers/erlingsson/erlingsson.pdf) | [SFI principles](https://cseweb.ucsd.edu/~dstefan/cse227-spring21/papers/tan:sfi.pdf) |
| Oct 07 | Privilege separation | [Preventing Privilege Escalation](https://www.usenix.org/legacy/events/sec03/tech/full_papers/provos_et_al/provos_et_al.pdf) | |
| Oct 09 | |
| | |
| Oct 14 | Hardware isolation primitives | [Video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MREwcSo0uz4) | |
| Oct 16 | x86 TEEs | [SCONE](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/conference/osdi16/osdi16-arnautov.pdf) | |
| Oct 21 | Project proposal presentations | ||
| Oct 23 | ARM TEEs | [ReZone](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/sec22fall_cerdeira.pdf) | [Sanctuary](https://www.ndss-symposium.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ndss2019_01A-1_Brasser_paper.pdf) |
| Oct 28 | Security for accelerators | [Graviton](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/osdi18-volos.pdf) | [HIX](http://calab.kaist.ac.kr:8080/~jhuh/papers/jang_asplos19.pdf) |
| Oct 30 | Cache-timing side channels | | [Survey](https://eprint.iacr.org/2016/613.pdf)
| |
| Nov 04 | Cache side-channel mitigations | |
| |
| Nov 06 | |||
| Nov 11 | *mid-term break* | ||
| Nov 13 | *mid-term break* | ||
| Nov 18 | Transient execution attacks | [Spectre](https://spectreattack.com/spectre.pdf) | [Survey](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3442479) |
| Nov 20 | Transient execution attack mitigations | [Swivel](https://www.usenix.org/system/files/sec21fall-narayan.pdf) | [ConTExT](http://www.attacking.systems/web/files/context.pdf) |
| Nov 25 | Hardware-software contracts |
|
| |
| Nov 27 | Network Security | TLS/VPN/IPSec, Tor | |
| Dec 02 | Network side-channel attacks | | [Survey](https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3457904)
| |
| Dec 04 | Network side-channel mitigations | NetShaper | |
| Dec 20 | Final project reports due | [How to write a great research paper](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/academic-program/write-great-research-paper/) | |
(###) Additional reading
(###) Acknowledgements
UBC’s main Vancouver campus—including our classroom and other course spaces—is located on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. These lands have always been a place of learning for Musqueam youth, who were instructed in their culture, history, and tradition, and who in turn shared their knowledge with a new generation.